Elon Musk makes the case for Tesla in Texas

Posted on
January 15, 2015
by
Matt Pressman

Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla Motors, spoke with the Texas Tribune at the Texas Transportation Forum in Austin today. Musk was looking to make his case and help provide the rationale for the Texas Legislature to allow Tesla to sell its cars directly to Texans.Musk's bid to sell Tesla cars directly to Texans comes after a failed attempt to win support for the plan in 2013.

The current laws which restrict Tesla’s ability to sell seem to fly in the face of a free market system (which Texas prides itself on) and Musk described these laws as “extremely un-Texan.” He later said, "We're just looking fundamentally for the people of Texas to have the right to decide how they want to buy their cars," Musk said.

Musk noted that Tesla forged a compromise in New York that allowed the company to open five Tesla stores for direct sales. He suggested that a similar compromise in Texas might allow for seven stores to account for the state’s larger population. He also said he was open to working within the dealer franchise system “down the road” but not with any companies that have been blocking his efforts now. Musk explained, “If they’re [dealers] punching us in the face, they shouldn’t expect we’re going to be their friend.”

Afterwards Musk spoke to a big crowd of Model S owners gathered at the Texas Capitol. It was estimated that these Tesla owners brought an estimated 100+ Model S vehicles to at the event. Musk arrived in a Model S and also had a pre-production Model X parked on-site outside the capitol.

Video Recap

In the first video below, you can check out exclusive video footage, courtesy of youtube user David Matthis, of Musk's comments to Tesla owners after the event. And, in the next video, you can see entire interview with the Texas Tribune including when he mentioned the possibility of a test track for the "Hyperloop" in Texas, he explains the details in the video...

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